Six months later, the four finalists for “Do Us a Flavour” have started production, with the promise of $50,000 and 1 per cent of future sales for the credited creator of the concoction that garners the most online votes by Oct. 16.

Lay’s has promised that the winner will become a staple in stores across Canada starting in November — although its lifespan surely depends on whether it consistently sells.

The contenders that emerged from 630,000 submissions hailed from chip fans in four different provinces: Creamy Garlic Ceasar from B.C., Grilled Cheese & Ketchup from Ontario, Maple Moose from Newfoundland and Perogy Platter from Alberta.

Whether or not the bags entice people to try a new style, though, you’d likely have to be a snack food addict to sample all four in one sitting — or, a national media outlet furnished with a couple bags of each flavour before they officially hit stores on July 30.

The challenge of any new chip innovation is to live up to the image its packaging attempts to evoke. After all, anyone familiar with Lay’s doesn’t need a disclaimer to tell them that the flavour is simulated.

Yet some suspension of disbelief must be expected when the bag features the image of a salad bowl, grilled cheese sandwich, bottle of maple syrup or plate of perogies.

Such a psychological leap isn’t expected when people reach into a legacy bag. Presumably, no one has ever thought to drink actual salt and vinegar from a glass, no one would fathom that dill pickle chips as a suitable surrogate for dill pickles, etc.

But the level of satisfaction provided by a new kind of chip is generally defined by ones that have been eaten before. So, here’s a composite of what the Canada.com editorial team thought as each of the new Lay’s flavours were tried.

Creamy Garlic Ceasar (Jill Munro, Vancouver, B.C.): Like a muted sour cream and onion with a faint trace of cheese — although it would be false advertising if there wasn’t a garlic element, too. Generally, it tastes subtle enough to be inoffensive. When the American contest winner was announced in May, incidentally, the surely similar Cheesy Garlic Bread flavour won over Sriracha and Chicken & Waffles.

Grilled Cheese & Ketchup (Angela Batley, Ottawa): Of the four, this one might look best on paper, yet has the least going for it in reality. The fact that the primary appeal of grilled cheese is the hot gooeyness was obviously abandoned in the process of being translated into a chip bag. Again, the flavouring is somewhat elusive, to the point that it evaporates during the consumption process.

Maple Moose (Tyle LeFrense, Isle aux Morts, Nfld.): Chips presented as sweet have always been the stuff of legend in Canada — the Hostess brand once tried to foist cherry, grape and orange flavours on the marketplace — so this creation is a definite outlier, although it has a more smokey taste than anything you’d pour on a stack of pancakes. Certainly, it is the most eccentric idea of the quartet.

Perogy Platter (Lucas Crawford, Edmonton): First off, the decision to spell the word “perogy” rather than “pierogi” would betray any claim that this flavour captures the bacon and onion filling, even though the creator claims they were inspired by what he liked best at his hometown diner. At best, the taste resembles a barbecue or all dressed flavour, perceptions that the blue bag seems determined to distort.